X-post: suggestions re. skill needed to succeed at the High School level?

[Halftime Hope]

ETA: sorry, that subject heading should read "skills", as in academic skills. Thanks!

 

Here is the link to my post:

 

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=82603

 

I'm looking for ideas of what skills you'd teach HSers in a co-op setting to help them be successful in high school and beyond.

 

TIA for your input.

 

(P.S. If you've taught a group of homeschoolers and seen what the students in your class needed help with, the first hand experience would be helpful as well.)

Edited February 16, 2009 by Valerie(TX)

[Halftime Hope]

bump

[Stacia]

You've gotten lots of great suggestions on the other post. One I haven't seen mentioned yet, but that I found invaluable...

 

Being able to write a 500-word essay in 45 minutes or less. We had to do this every other week in AP English class, answering one question about a novel we had read. We didn't know the question ahead of time. So, basically, we had to become very skilled at organizing our thoughts, writing a paper (and getting spelling/grammar/etc... completely correct), and to pump it out for final submission in a 45-minute class period.

 

When I got to college, I was soooo thankful that I had so much practice writing papers like that.

 

It is also very helpful for kids to know the difference between different types of writing projects they may be assigned, such as reports, opinions, analysis, etc.... I know in one of my early college classes that the teacher wanted an analysis written. It turned out that I was the only student in class who actually did that -- everyone else wrote a book report. And, boy oh boy, was the professor livid!